


A Study A-dude

by TheBananasaurus



Category: Kanji x Naoto, Kanji/Naoto - Fandom, KanjixNaoto, Naoto x Kanji, Naoto/Kanji, NaotoxKanji, Persona 4, Persona Series, persona - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dysphoria, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Transphobia, M/M, Transgender, persona 4 au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 15:20:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13126425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBananasaurus/pseuds/TheBananasaurus
Summary: Kanji Tatsume and Naoto Shirogane both knew they wanted to study abroad once they graduated high-school. What they didn’t know, however, is that they picked the same exact American university at which to do so. They’d fallen out of contact since Naoto skipped yet another grade and graduated a year before Kanji, but now that they would be reunited, things can pick up where they left off, right?





	A Study A-dude

**Author's Note:**

> [ **Author's Note:**  
>  Yes, the title is a play on both the phrase “studying abroad” with a “broad” being a rude term for a woman, as well as a nod to the Sherlock Holmes title, ‘A Study in Scarlet.’ I'm a Sherlockian dork.  
> For those waiting on updates to my other fan fictions: they are coming, please read the notes at the end of this chapter.]

 

Off to the side of a bustling quad, two university students were arguing. One, a short, slender, androgynous-looking male with blue-black hair, the other a tall, muscular man with bleached blonde tips. They couldn’t have been more different if they were making that attempt.

**“Look, I don’t care whatchya got on your chest or between your legs, stupid!”** Kanji growled, fists clenching at his sides. 

**“...If that were true, then why were you so upset with yourself when you first began developing feelings for me while you thought I was male?”** muttered Naoto in a cool tone, not removing his eyes from the much taller man.

**“You ARE male, aren’tchya? I thought you came out as transgender forever ago.”**

Naoto shook his head. **“That isn’t the point. At the time, regardless of my gender identity and your current knowledge of the gender I was assigned at birth based on my outward biology, did you or did you not claim that you were ‘not gay’ and thus could not possibly have feelings for ‘a dude?’”**

**_“Tch,”_ ** Kanji tsked, jerking his head aside. **“You’re so stupid.”**

Naoto crossed his arms over his chest. **“Answer the question, Kanji.”**

Kanji ground his jaw, seeming insistent on keeping in sullen silence, until he violently returned his searing silver gaze back to Naoto’s impassive features.

**“You can’t fool me, ya know. You’re hurtin’ inside. You think I don’t know where this is headed? Huh? You think I don’t know where you’re tryna lead me?”**

Naoto’s eyes flickered, and his voice deepened, though nothing else appeared on his face to belie inner turmoil. **“Answer.”**

A heavy, almost weary sigh tore loose from Kanji’s mouth. He rolled his shoulders, and visibly inhaled, perhaps in an effort to calm his volatile temper. **“I did, but that doesn’t--”**

Naoto cut him off, his voice still soft, yet somehow sharp as a razor’s edge. **“Then how, pray tell, do you expect me to think of myself now that you ask me on, of all things, a date? After all this time?”**

A snort not unlike an enraged bull blew out of Kanji with enough force to be felt from two feet away. **“Ya still don’t get it, do you? I told ya: you’re stupid. Dude or chick, I like you for you. I never had the balls to say it before, s’all.”**

Without missing a beat, Naoto tilted his head. **“And who I am is a man. This conflicts with your prior statements on your heterosexuality.”**

**“I know!”** yelled Kanji, before realizing himself and taking another deep, calming breath. A few people walking past them had stopped to stare. Americans were just as terrible with gawking as Japanese were, it seemed. The taller man lowered his voice to barely above a whisper.  
**“I know. I was stupid back then, too. I thought liking another dude was sissy stuff. We were kids. Kids say stupid stuff - especially guys.”**

Returning his head to its natural angle, Naoto narrowed his eyes. **“What is your point?”**

Kanji took a step forward. When Naoto didn’t budge, he took another, and placed his hands on either of the blue-haired man’s shoulders. **“You’re a guy. I’m a guy. So if I like you, then that means I must be a little gay, don’t it?”** He made an attempt to smile, but it faltered when Naoto spoke.

**“Does it? Are you certain you don’t view me as female and are thereby romantically and sexually attracted to me?”**

**“I-I--!”**

Kanji’s fingers trembled as his cheeks flushed. Flustered, he dropped his hands and crossed his arms over his chest, almost mirroring Naoto. **“Jeez, why ya gotta put it like that?”** he muttered ruefully.

**“Your reaction proves my hypothesis. Good day, Kanji.”**

With that, Naoto turned cleanly on his platform dress shoes and started in the opposite direction. A sudden force yanking him back nearly had him fall flat on his backside.

**_“Wha--?!”_ ** he gasped, wheeling his arms wildly to balance himself.

**“Slow down there, pal, you didn’t prove** **_nothin_ ** **’.”**

Naoto finally found his bearings and tugged on his lapel to pull his collar from Kanji’s iron grip. He said nothing, waiting for Kanji to expound upon his words as he re-laced his arms across his body.

He was not unsatisfied with the results.

**"You know how I am when talkin’ about that kinda stuff. I dunno about you, but it’s not like I’ve been swimmin’ in dates since… ever.”**

Still, the young detective was silent, and refused to turn around. He heard the taller man scuffing his sneakers on the sidewalk behind him -- a physical manifestation of nervousness. It was… endearing.

**“I liked you even when I thought liking you was bad. But me liking you doesn’t make me any less of a man than it did back then, and it doesn’t make you any less of one right** **_now_ ** **. Like I said - it don’t matter what your body was born with, or what you have now, I like you for you. Always have, always will. That means I like dudes, and if I gotta yell that in the middle of the quad for you to believe me, then I will.”**

Naoto’s chin lowered to his chest. The chest he’d had surgery on as soon as he became an adult. The chest, the body, that had always held the heart of a man… apparently, more than one.

He smiled to himself, then smoothed his lips out.

**“N-Naoto?”** Kanji implored quietly.

**“That won’t be necessary - the shouting, I mean,”** Naoto replied, at length. He turned around and offered his hand in a shake. **“You have a date to prepare for this evening, however. It would be rude to keep them waiting.”**

Kanji’s palm extended with his eyes on it, before he stopped with it hanging mid-air. He glanced up. **“Wh--... So is that… a yes?”**

Naoto couldn’t help the smirk that appeared back on his face. He took Kanji’s hand and shook it once. **“Yes.** **_‘Stupid.’”_ **

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ **Author's Note:**  
>  I may continue this fic with a possible smut chapter (as I'm known for my smut, and let's face it, it's fun to write), but this fic originally was written as a therapeutic exercise to help with my own gender dysphoria as a transgender man.
> 
> If you're a follower of my other fictions, I apologize for the long delay in new chapters. I have been extremely unwell physically and mentally, and jumping form one writing project to another helps me cope. In time, all my popular fics will be updated in order of the least recently updated unless requested otherwise.
> 
> If you want a specific fic updated first, message here or on that fic. If you want a date night and fast-forward to smut in THIS fic, message here. Thank you, my lovelies. <3]


End file.
